Fiber optic cabling is increasingly used to place electrical systems in communication with each other in large vehicles, such as aircraft. During manufacturing, extensive testing is typically performed to ensure that fiber optic connections are functioning within established parameters in order to prevent malfunction when the vehicle has been placed into service. For example, a fiber optic cable, which may be made up of multiple fiber optic cable segments and connectors (informally referred to as a common copper path despite the lack of copper wiring) is tested to determine whether connectivity has been established through each connector along the pathway and whether signal attenuation within the pathway is within a desired threshold.
Typical testing methods include the use of a fiber optic testing device to generate OTDR data pertaining to a fiber optic pathway. By analyzing the OTDR data, a technician can determine approximate distances along the pathway to discontinuities and approximate attenuation factors along the pathway. However, having no data regarding the length of the pathway within the vehicle, technicians may inadvertently configure the fiber optic testing device for a distance that is much longer than the pathway under test making it difficult to determine the precise location of a discontinuity. Further, the technician may be required to consult multiple other databases to associate a discontinuity with a particular connector or fiber optic wire. The technician may also be required to consult still additional databases to discover a location of the discontinuity within the vehicle. As such, typical testing methods are very time consuming.